


The Professor's Assistant

by jamespotterthefirst



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-20
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-07-14 15:38:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16043438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jamespotterthefirst/pseuds/jamespotterthefirst
Summary: Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon pass notes to comment about the attractive teaching assistant, James Potter. Unfortunately, their written admiration does not remain as secret as they initially wished.





	The Professor's Assistant

“ _Lily_ ,” Marlene hissed, this time louder than the numerous times she had done it before. A few students sitting in the rows in front of them turned to throw them annoyed glares.

Lily continued to ignore her friend, determined as she was to stay out of trouble in  _this_  class at least. She failed to repress the thought of Professor McGonagall’s harsh reprimand when she caught them whispering to each other in their previous lecture. Her cheeks, she was convinced as she waited for class to begin, were still faintly tinted with color from having all eyes on her.

  
But Marlene McKinnon was not one to give up so easily. She scribbled something on a blank piece of lined paper before setting it in front of Lily.

 

_Let’s skive off_ , it read in her bubbly writing.

 

Lily threw her friend an incredulous look.

 

“No,” she mouthed in response.

 

Marlene rolled her eyes and snatched up the sheet of paper back to scribble a reply.

 

_It’s only a stupid discussion taught by an assistant who’s probably rubbish._

 

Lily glanced at the front to make sure the instructor had not arrived yet without their notice. At seeing the empty podium, she turned to scowl at Marlene, the pointed glare enough of a response for the blonde.

 

Marlene sighed dramatically, taking the piece of paper back and scribbling,  _You need a good snog, Evans._

Lily read it and shook her head at her friend, unable to contain the defeated smile pulling at her lips.  _And perhaps even more than that_ , she wrote back.

 

Marlene smirked, her hand furiously gliding across the page as she replied. Before she could finish, however, the babble of the other students collectively died down as the professor’s assistant entered the room.

 

The first thing Lily noticed about him was his hair, jet black and disheveled as though he had repeatedly tousled it with his fingers. The mental image alone made him far more attractive. Aside from sticking in every direction, his hair made him look even taller than he already was. He pushed his glasses absently up the bridge of his nose as he glanced around at them, measuring the size of his class. His eyes moved from face to face, never settling on any in particular. When his eyes fell on Lily, however, they lingered there longer than on anyone else. She could feel the heat returning to her face, her body involuntarily shifting on her seat as her heart beat so loudly that she would not have been surprised if he could hear it from where he stood. Perhaps he witnessed the spectacle Marlene had made of them with McGonagall and recognized her. The thought was far more mortifying that she could handle.

 

Before she could dwell on that horrifying thought, however, his eyes moved on.

 

“Wow,” Marlene admired under her breath along with many other female students in the class. At once, she began to scratch off her half finished reply, writing something else instead.

 

_I found the perfect candidate to give you that snogging (and more) you desperately need. Hint: he is standing in front of you._

 

“‘Evening,” he said to the class once it was time to begin. “My name’s James Potter and I’m one of Professor McGonagall’s assistants.”

 

_And his name rhymes with Pames Jotter_ , she added.

 

_That would never happen_ , Lily replied, careful to pass the note back when Potter was not looking.

 

_Why? He’s fit._

 

Marlene made a point to underline the word “fit”. Lily resisted the urge to roll her eyes at reading it.

 

_Unbelievably so. Which is exactly why it could never happen_ , Lily replied.

 

“I’m not going to waste anyone’s time with that ice-breaker rubbish everyone is obsessed with doing,” Potter went on, switching a pen from one hand to the other as he spoke. “I’m a student as well and if you’re like me, you probably hate that since you couldn’t care less what everyone’s name and major is.”

 

Lily saw several people in front of her exchange grins, perhaps already deciding they were going to like him. Her eyes fell on Potter again and this time she noted that he did look around their same age, no older than twenty two. His eyes met hers again and Lily looked at the door, immediately embarrassed about the reaction.

 

“Right,” he continued with something of amusement in his voice. “On to the discussion.”

 

By the time she looked back at her desk, Marlene’s reply awaited her.

 

_You’re fit as well. Just imagine it, it could be magical._

 

Lily stared at the sketch Marlene drew along with the message, torn between laughing and grimacing at her friend. She had to admire the talent but also her friend’s dedication to use her signature eggplant emoji in written conversation, just like she would in their text messages. 

 

Deciding they were pushing their luck too far, Lily ended the conversation there and hid the note under her stack of papers, feigning as though she had been listening to Potter the whole time in case his eyes fell on her again.

 

He led the rest of discussion by asking them to write replies to several of the views expressed by McGonagall during lecture. When the end of the hour drew nearer, he said, “All right, whatever you wrote will be enough. Besides, nothing you could write on your first day could possibly impress good ol’ Minerva.”

 

A few people laughed.

 

“Anyway, you’re all free to leave,” he informed them. “Please set your responses on my desk on your way out to get today’s attendance credit.”

 

“I could get you his phone number,” Marlene offered as they gathered their belongings like the rest of the class.

 

“No,” Lily replied quickly. “Please don’t do that!” She opened her mouth to continue as they ascended the steps, but they were approaching the subject of their conversation. Lily’s heart picked up again when he locked his eyes on her. She was close enough this time to notice that they were quite nice and a pleasant hazel.

 

“See you next discussion, Miss Evans,” he told her as she set her work on the pile in front of him.

 

Taken aback, all she could offer in response was a meek and rather awkward nod. Lily rushed out of the classroom with the conviction of someone who wished for nothing more than for the floor to open beneath their feet and swallow them whole.

 

“He  _wants_  you,” Marlene declared once in the hall.

 

“ _Shhh!_ ” Lily urged, nervously looking over her shoulder. They were safely away from his earshot. “Just drop it, McKinnon. The joke was funny at first but now it’s getting irritating.”

 

“I wasn’t kidding,” she returned quite seriously. “‘See you next discussion, Miss Evans,’” Marlene mimicked in an overly seductive voice. “He was undoubtedly undressing you with his mind when he said that.”

 

Lily was suddenly wondering what it would be like to be actually undressed by James Potter… The thought spoiled the glare she was trying to direct at her friend. “Honestly,” Lily started, a bit unconvincingly. She recovered at once, regaining control of her voice. “Just stop it, Marlene.”

 

The blonde laughed despite her friend’s tone, but nodded anyway. “All right, all right,” she agreed. “I’ll stop pointing out the undeniable sexual tension between you and the sexiest teaching assistant on campus.”

 

Lily raised her brows at her, unconvinced.

 

“I swear,” Marlene went on. “Your dirty little secret will stay between you, me, and that paper we were passing back and– What?”

 

Lily had stopped dead on her tracks, her mouth dropping in a horrified ‘O.’

 

“What?” Marlene pressed on when her wide-eyed friend said nothing.

 

“The paper,” she said at last in a horrified whisper.

 

“What about it?”

 

“It was in my stack,” she went on, the feeling of her legs leaving her entirely.

 

Marlene only arched her eyebrows, not catching on.

 

“The stack,” Lily went on impatiently. “The stack  _I turned in to him_.”

 

“Fuck,” Marlene muttered, finally understanding. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she went on, looking at her shoes as her mind reeled for a solution. When she had one, she looked up at Lily. “He probably hasn’t read them yet,” she offered hopefully. “Perhaps we can go back inside the classroom and tell him we forgot to add something to our response.”

 

Lily, meanwhile, fought back the wave of nausea washing over her. “He’s not going to buy that,” she replied. “You heard him. He doesn’t really expect us to be particularly impressive.”

 

That was not the reply her friend wanted to hear for she became exasperated. “Do you want to recover the bloody note or not?”

 

“All right, fine,” the redhead replied in the same tone, following her back to their classroom.

 

The crowd of students exiting the classroom had almost completely dispersed by the time they returned. Lily was hoping they were still there so that she could hide her glowing face from his view but such a hope was foolish since she had to talk to him in order to get her papers back. Already having second thoughts about their feeble plan, she stepped into the classroom as the last pair of students stepped out.

 

He was sitting at his desk, shuffling through some papers, a grin that made him impossibly more handsome plastered on his face. When he realized she was standing there, his smile broadened.

 

“Hullo again, Miss Evans,” he said cheerfully.

 

She looked over her shoulder since Marlene had said nothing. Instead of being by her side like Lily thought she would be, the blonde was watching safely from the hall. Before Lily could say anything to her, Potter said, “Can I help you with something?”

 

She turned to him again as he waited for her response. An expression Lily could not identify flitted across his face.

 

“Professor,” she started, causing him to scrunch up his nose.

 

“I’m not a professor,” he corrected her. “Not nearly as old or dull yet.”

 

“Right,” she said. “I’m sorry to bother you. I was just wondering if I could make some changes to the response I turned in to you today.”

 

Again, something crossed his face but was gone before Lily could discern it. What was undeniable was the smirk that he struggled to fight back. “That won’t be possible,” he said very seriously despite his expression.

 

“Why not,” she asked, feeling particularly bold.

 

“I’ve already corrected it,” he explained.

 

All remaining breath left her. If he had seen her work then he had seen their stupid conversation. All at once, her brain reeled through a million different explanations, many involving denying they were referring to him with unbreakable resolve.

 

“It was decent,”  he went on, his expression much more controlled. “But I did make some corrections.”

 

He did not wait for a response from her,  which Lily was at least grateful for. All prospects of getting any words out were nonexistent. Instead, he shuffled through his stack before locating her work. Even in her panic, she noticed how none of the other papers were graded yet. He must have read hers first.

 

“Here you go,” he said, offering her the stack. “I wrote my comments at the end that I hope you will consider.”

 

Lily briefly glanced at the papers in her hands, spotting the comments he had made in red ink. Her eyes fell on the last page, a final and sickening reassurance that she had carelessly attached her conversation to her work.

 

There was something akin to humor etched on his face as he watched her. When yet again Lily failed to speak, he gathered his belongings and started towards the door. “See you soon, Miss Evans,” he called behind him. And before he exited, he paused and added, “And don’t let your friend convince you to skive off.” He added a wink before disappearing into the hall.

 

“Well, that wasn’t so bad, ” Marlene commented in relief as she joined a transfixed Lily.

 

It was.

 

Her face felt ablaze with heat as she flipped to the last page. To her horror, he had made corrections and comments on it too.

 

“What do you want for lunch?” Marlene asked causally, visibly having lost interest in the whole ordeal.

 

Lily was grateful for that because she did not think Marlene would ever let her live down some of the comments he wrote. Or the fact fact that, there, in bright red ink, was his phone number.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! :)


End file.
